Asia Cement sees prices and sales rise

27 September 2010

Asia Cement (China) Holdings sees cement prices rise by CNY20-30/t for the remainder of the year. ``It’s a rising market for cement as the government’s restriction on power-use caused the short supply of cement in eastern China,’’ chief executive Chang Tsai-hsiung told The Standard.

Since power restrictions started in July, the cement producer shipped more higher-priced cement from its Jiangxi plant to Shanghai. The average selling price rose about CNY10/t in September from CNY265/t in the previous month.

In its interim report, the company announced a first-half sales figure of 8Mt of cement at around CNY250/t. However, the low cement price cut 1H10 net profit by 57% YoY to CNY140.2m while dragging its profit margin 14 point lower to 18%. The downturn has been attributed to an oversupply of cement in Sichuan.

For the second half of the year, Asia Cement (China) aims to produce 11.5Mt of cement, increasing its output by 44% against first-half figures. It also stated it may acquire coal mines to cut costs.